ABSTRACT
In the case of Switzerland, the fact that the country was not hit directly by war and violent destruction does not mean that military factors had no impact on the economy as a whole. In Switzerland as in Denmark, this 'good-war' experience did not at all fit into the general view of the war as a period of permanent threat and hardship. In the Swiss view, the Second World War was considered to be an acid test for straightforward neutrality and armed defence. Throughout Europe, a highly sensitive and emotive term, overloaded with implicit meanings, linked with questions of individual guilt and collective responsibility. But if we keep in mind -as Gerald Feldman has pointed out – how deeply the Nazi State and German domination had undermined the basis of morality all over Europe, then the juxtaposition of a bad collaboration and a morally neutral 'business as usual' can be very misleading.
